


cherry wine

by chenrydanger



Category: Henry Danger (TV)
Genre: Angst, Domestic Violence (implied), F/M, Hurt/Comfort, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 06:29:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20755856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chenrydanger/pseuds/chenrydanger
Summary: Charlotte discovers something about Henry when he shows up with a certain indication that things in his relationship aren’t going as smoothly as he would like everyone to think.





	cherry wine

Charlotte approached the doorstep of the Hart family household with an extra pep in her step. She could tell that it was about to storm outside, but that didn’t dampen her mood. Up overhead, the sun seemed to muster up the courage to peek out from behind a cluster of puffy dark clouds one last time, casting down ethereal beams of sunshine in its wake.

Despite the state of impending gloom, Charlotte was struggling to contain the huge smile that itched to light up her face. The Hart house was basically her home away from home, and if that weren’t enough to justify her happiness, she was beyond excited – more than she would ever be willing to admit – to be spending the day with her best friend, none other than Henry Hart himself.

Henry. For Charlotte, the mere mention of that name brought with it a wide range of feelings. That assortment of feelings was exactly what Charlotte had pondered over on her short trek to his house. First and foremost, of course, he was her best friend – it had been that way since they were in the first grade and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

There was also a part of her that saw him as a liability. His chaotic nature, as endearing as it could sometimes be, often meant that she ended up being the one who had to fix the many messes he created. While she mostly accepted that this was simply their dynamic, that didn’t mean that she was particularly fond of it.

Then came the most complicated part of their friendship. Henry was no stranger to the delicate art of romancing, put lightly, and Charlotte was well aware of that. It had never really bothered her before. But there was something about his relationship with his latest girlfriend that put her off. Like, really bothered her. And the fact that she couldn’t put her finger on what it was drove her completely mad.

But amidst all of these thoughts, nothing could change the bubbling feeling of excitement Charlotte felt in her chest as she strolled up the walkway and stepped foot onto the front porch.

To her surprise, just as she raised her fist to knock on the ornate front door, it swung open to reveal her best friend standing there behind it.

“Hey, Hen—” she started to say before suddenly cutting herself short. The very first thing she noticed was the gnarly bruise on his eye – it was pretty hard to miss. The mere sight of it temporarily knocked the wind out of her, causing her to step back and gape at him in complete and utter surprise.

“What happened?” she asked breathlessly, taken aback. She reached up as if to touch the discolored area on his face but stopped herself halfway. Henry, her always goofy, fun-loving best friend, wouldn’t even look her in the eye, much less crack a smile.

“Did this happen…” she began, then looked around before continuing in a hushed voice, “on a mission?”

She waited attentively for an explanation or any other sort of dignified response, but all she got was an indifferent shrug. “It’s nothing,” he mumbled in response.

At that, Charlotte’s eyebrows furrowed together. She watched as he reached down to pick up the leather back pack he brought with him everywhere and slung it over his shoulder. Finally, he looked up at her and raised his eyebrows in question. ”Should we go?”

”No, actually, ” Charlotte replied quickly, ”it’s about to rain—aren’t you going to tell me how you got hurt?”

Henry looked at her for a moment before shaking his head and stepping forward anyway. But Charlotte, ever determined to get a concrete answer out of her best friend, held her hand to his chest and stopped him from going any further.

”I don’t think so,” she said simply. “You’re going to let me in and tell me what happened or I’m going to figure out myself. If I have to figure out myself, I’ll be pretty angry. And you’re not gonna—“

“—Like me when I’m angry,” Henry finished for her. He let out a breath, and then a small laugh. “Yeah, I’ve heard that speech before.”

Charlotte softened slightly at the sight of the small smile on his face before noticing that she still hadn’t removed her hand from its place on his chest. Embarrassed, she pulled her hand away as if she had been shocked – and funny enough, she could feel the electricity sparking beneath her fingertips.

Luckily for her, though, Henry didn’t seem to notice. He looked up at the sky, squinting as if he were reading something before meeting her eyes again.

“Alright,” he sighed. ”Come in. But only because it’s about to rain. You’re lucky it’s about to rain.”

He stepped aside to let her in and she walked past him smugly. “Sure, that’s it. You tell yourself that.”

Charlotte sat down on the couch in the middle of the living room with her legs in the criss-cross apple sauce position and her body facing in toward the middle of the sofa. She patted the cushion in front of her and Henry obliged. He sat down so he faced the TV and stole a few uncertain glances at his friend in the silence that followed.

Finally, Charlotte raised an eyebrow and spoke up. “It’s now or never, Hen. You want to tell me how you got that black eye?”

Henry took a deep breath and leaned back, putting one arm behind his head so as to seem nonchalant. “Yeah, uh, I was actually playing ping-pong with Ray, and—“

He stopped mid-sentence, and he would have continued if it wasn’t for his occasional glances at Charlotte – because just one look at the disbelieving expression on her face shot him down immediately.

He sighed and leaned forward again, putting his head in his hands with his elbows resting on his knees. Charlotte watched as his fingers tangled in his hair, pulling on his golden locks in frustration. And while she knew it wasn’t exactly the time, she felt a tiny jolt of jealousy – and then a burst of butterflies at the thought of what it would be like to run her own fingers through them.

It was then, when she snapped out of it, that she became aware of the sound of sniffling.

“Henry?” She reached out and placed a consoling hand on his back, suddenly back in concerned mode. “What’s going on? You can tell me, Hen. It’s me.”

Henry lifted his head from his hands and immediately wiped his tears on the sleeves of his flannel shirt. He shook his head before finally shrugging in what seemed to be defeat. He turned his head to meet Charlotte’s eyes with his own and said only one word.

“Bianca.”

Like clockwork, once the name had left his mouth, a clap of thunder boomed outside and the rain started coming down in sheets. Charlotte felt a chill run through her as she looked into the eyes of her best friend and realized for the first time that he was broken, realized exactly why she never liked his girlfriend in the first place, realized that maybe sometimes heroes are the ones who need saving, realized how much she loved the boy in front of her…

and that she wished she could be the one put him back together.

“Oh, come here,” she whispered, because her voice wouldn’t allow her to do any more than that any louder. She opened her arms and closed her eyes and felt him wrap his own arms around her as she did the same. She reveled in the warmth of his embrace for a moment.

“Do you know what the worst part is?” He asked softly, breaking the silence. She could feel the rumble of his voice in the places where their skin touched.

“What?”

There was silence for another moment.

“I still love her,” he said then, and Charlotte’s entire chest turned to ice. Henry pulled away and looked at her, blinking away tears that had welled in his eyes. “I still love her so much, and I don’t know if she loves me.”

Charlotte had to fight the urge not to cry herself. She immediately trashed all ideas of “putting him back together” from her mind. She mentally balled up every daydream and every jolt of electricity and tossed them out the window. It was no the time for her to entertain a silly – no, a dangerous crush. Absolutely not. That was the last thing Henry needed right then.

Outwardly, she nodded, one corner of her mouth turning up ever so slightly slightly in a sympathetic half-smile. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

“It feels awful,” Henry said resolutely. “It’s the worst feeling ever to not know if the one person you love actually feels the same. You know?”

Charlotte looked away, the irony of the situation not at all lost on her. She shrugged, fiddling with a loose thread on the sofa.

“No,” she said quietly with a shake of her head. “No, I couldn’t imagine.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one shot a while ago for my tumblr and it still hurts my heart, but I hope you all enjoy. ♡


End file.
